Page 5 of Deadly Revenge
She had to be careful.
Hope was grateful that she’d acquired the skill to stay quiet as she snuck out of the van. She’d practiced it lately at home when she slipped out at night and had to go by her mom’s room to get to the back door.
She tiptoed around the van, checking on Jake, who was more awake than she thought. He was taking another swig of vodka.
Hope knew Jake and Vicki had talked about a campground not far from here. Hope slid around the side of the van where she would be out of sight if Jake and Vicki happened to look over their shoulders. The vehicle was parked on a small pad of gravel, turned around and ready to leave again. Straight in front of Hope was a trail through some thick evergreen trees. If she could get on the other side of those trees without being seen, then she could take the trail and see where it went.With any luck, it would go to the main campground. They’d come to this spot because no one else was there and the van could make it up the bumpy road. The trail could lead her to either a parking lot or campground—both might have people who could help her.
Once she was about twenty feet away from the van, Hope started to sprint. At some point Jake and Vicki would realize she was missing. Even though Hope was in decent shape, she started breathing hard. Maybe her mom and uncle were right, she needed to spend less time vaping.
The trail wound through a grove of aspen trees and then down a slight hill. There were rocks along the path that she picked her way around. The last thing she needed was a twisted ankle. Hope thought she heard voices behind her and stopped for just a moment to listen. Nothing. It must have been her imagination.
Hope continued down the trail and some outhouses came into view. The campground might be nearby. Or a road or somewhere she could get to where there were people. She came up to the bathroom and flipped open the phone. There was one bar. Maybe she could get a text message out. She probably wouldn’t be able to call anyone. Hope typed in her uncle’s number and then started a message.
Help me Uncle Nick. I didn’t run away. I was taken. I think I’m in Colorado.
What did someone say to their uncle when they’d been kidnapped? He’d tell her to call 9-1-1. She gaveit a try, but the call wouldn’t go through. Hope turned to continue down another path past the bathrooms that might lead to the campground. No one seemed to be around and that scared her. She needed to find someone to help her. Just as she started down the trail, she heard voices.
Crap. It was Jake and Vicki.
She slipped into the bathroom and locked the door. Good God it stunk in here, but maybe she could wait them out. It would be worth standing in this stench if it meant getting away.
Pounding on the door made her jump.
“We know you’re in there. Come out now.”
Vicki. She sounded seriously pissed.
Hope tried the phone again, but there were no bars in the outhouse. What if she could leave some sort of message? She didn’t have a pen or paper or anything else to write with. She’d watched a movie once where someone wrote in their own blood on the wall. How could she cut herself?
There didn’t seem to be anything sharp. Maybe the toilet paper holder. She went over and worked her fingers around the edges, trying to find something rough to cut one finger. Vicki continued banging on the door yelling at her about how she had better come out. Jake was going to break the lock. Panic flowed through Hope, but she controlled her breathing to stay calm. Her uncle always told her that in tight situations, it was panic that got you into trouble.
Her finger found a jagged edge on the toilet paper holder. Perfect. She slid it across until she felt a prick.A small bead of blood popped up. Would that be enough? She had to give it a try. Hope took her finger and wroteheabove the toilet paper holder. The blood stopped. There was no way she was going to get the full message written without a bigger cut. She worked on slicing her finger some more on the sharp edge. When blood appeared, she managed to get anlandpto finish her message. She’d love to write more, but that was about all she was going to squeeze out of her finger.
The screaming outside continued, but Hope didn’t do anything. Maybe the commotion would get someone’s attention and they would call 9-1-1. Feeling smug, Hope crossed her arms and waited. She thought she could still smell smoke, but it was hard to tell over the gross scent of the bathroom. If there was a forest fire, that was good and bad. Good because there would be firefighters somewhere, but bad because that meant the campgrounds would be closed and there would be less people around.
The sound of something scraping against the lock latch interrupted her thoughts. What? No. There were more scratching sounds. She went back into the corner as Jake flung open the door and, spotting her in the corner, came over and grabbed her by the arm. His fingers dug in hard and he had a knife—probably what he’d used to force open the door. Hope tried to pull away, but Vicki stepped in and slapped her across the face. Then Jake dragged her out of the bathroom.
“You listen here, you little shit...” Jake started in.
Hope wanted to scream, but fear overtook her and nothing came out but a squeak.
“Is everything okay here?”
Another man and woman had come up the trail and were standing with unsure looks on their faces.
“Yeah,” Jake said, smiling. “My daughter. She’s a teenager and you know how they are. Willful and difficult. She’s been texting her boyfriend while we were on vacation. Told her not to and she took off and did it anyway.”
“Being a parent is tough,” the man said. “Are you staying in the campground? We haven’t seen you.”
Jake’s face flushed red. “No, we wanted the real mountain experience, ya know? We’re camping out in the woods.”
The man glanced at Hope.
“I need...” she started to say.
But before she could finish and say help, Jake’s fingers dug in harder on her bicep. Hope tried to pull away, but his grasp was too strong. She was blocking the view of Jake’s other hand with the knife. The couple couldn’t see it. He leaned over, pressed the tip into her rib cage making her wince and whispered in her ear, “Tell them you’re fine or I’ll kill them. I’ll slit their throats.”
He said it so quietly that Hope could barely hear him. Hope had also seen a gun in the van and she didn’t know if they had it with them.
